>>>>>>writings on the walls and that kind of things.
>>>>>
>>>>>Graffiti are overrated.
>>>>
>>>>mene mene tekel uparshin
>>>
>>>Jok, bre, ugursuze. Ne divanim turski.
>>
>>Is that from the King Vlad translation of the Book of Daniel ? <bg>
>
>Is that book about a Daniel, or by one, or owned by one? The "a of b" notation is so ambiguous and ignob... hey, the Book de la Daniel, i.e. born in Danielville? Nah, books aren't born, they are mostly aborted, when the writer has about had enough. Or your method is different.
>
>Elem, the above would mean "no, bro, you ugursuz you, I converse no Turkish.", but I tried to insert as many Turkish borrowed words as came handy. Funny thing, those borrowed words - nobody ever asks for them to be returned.
>
>>Tried to Google it and it said "Did you mean Jok, bre, ugursuz. Ne divanim turski." ? but it didn't know what that mean't either <s>
>>
>>(I'm guessing "Employees must wash their hands before returning to work"
>
>Nah, that's Walmart. Nothing beats the Ilf & Petrov's "before the first sun rays show, don't forget to submit urine for analysis" (in a Retiree's Home)
>
>>or "For a good time in Beograd call ... ")
>
>"Za provod u Beogradu..." - you don't even have a word for it, you have to call it "good time" (and the word literally means "lead through" but at least doesn't mean anything else). "Dobro vreme" would rather mean "good time for", "good weather" (yep, "vreme" means both time and weather - one among the few words where we have a confusing homonym - furthermore, "nevreme" - non-time - actually means a storm, very bad weather).
>
>>I am getting old. Balthazar's feast made me think of Justine, Clea and Mountolive
>
>I assume Olive is not Oyl, but rather a steed - something to mount, right?

For lurkers trying to separate esoterica from madness : Mene mene tekel uparsin is Aramaic and is what the finger writes on the wall at Balthazar's feast in the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament ( it represents four denominations of currency so no wonder the kings wizards couldn't figure out what it meant) It is where we get the expression "the writing on the wall" meaning a portent of doom. (now that I think of it, it may be where we get the expression "giving the finger" as well. Certainly is the "finger of fate".

ugursuz (soft g - unpronounced) means "unlucky" or "ill-fated" in Turkish. So maybe "Tough luck, Jack. I don't do Turkish" (using a borrowed Turkish word that has not be returned <s>)

The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell ( published in the 60s sometime ) is a set of four novels about Levantines in Alexandria. Recommended (or at least when I was in my 20s and running on adrenaline and romanticizing the hell out of doing strange things in the Middle East I thought it explained the magic of the Levant )

And the Lakers didn't even make it look hard and the Magic are going to find out Lebron does *not* believe in Magic.

Excuse me while I go submit urine for analysis before the sun goes down...